


we'll paint the town blue

by thatsformetoknow



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Falling In Love, First Kiss, Getting Together, High School AU, M/M, School Project, Shy Shiro, football captain shiro, he doesnt even realise hes in love w lance, popular kid lance, shiros so deep in the closet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:28:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27141772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatsformetoknow/pseuds/thatsformetoknow
Summary: The boy he recognised as Lance McClain. The two had never really spoken, but knew of each other. Everyone knew Shiro (unfortunately), but everyone knew Lance and for entirely different reasons. While Shiro was the reserved captain of the football team, wasn’t much for talking, but came alive on the field, Lance was someone that came alive around others. Lance thrived on attention and talking to people and making them laugh, whereas Shiro only dealt with interactions when he had to, and he hated being the centre of attention.He was charming and charismatic, and had the entirety of the school’s female population charmed. And then there was Shiro – he’d kissed a few girls, but never really wanted to. He was probably one of the only virgins in their year, and he’d come very reluctantly to the conclusion about a year or so ago now that he was gay, and he was so deep in the closet that he wasn’t sure that he’d ever be able to find his way out.So yeah, it was safe to say that Shiro wasn’t exactly surprised to find Lance down here with lipstick smeared over his face, shirt hanging open and a slight bulge in his pants. Shiro definitely made a point of averting his eyes, knowing that there was a blush on his cheeks.
Relationships: Lance/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 105





	we'll paint the town blue

Shiro wasn’t in a rush to get home tonight. He had a paper waiting for him to write, and in usual procrastination positive fashion; doing literally anything else before then was the way to go. He’d offered after practice had ended to go up and grab a few things they’d left on the field before heading home. 

He’d taken his time getting changed, and finally made his way up to the top field, heading straight for the bleachers where he could see the bag of things, stopping in his tracks as he heard a giggle, followed by some interesting… wet sounding noises. Shiro’s eyes widened and his brows pinched together as he considered the options of what it could be, but deciding that he should say something; he was captain of the football team, after all, and despite Shiro often not liking the responsibilities that came with that – they were still responsibilities. 

He headed around to venture under the bleachers, breathing a soft sigh of relief that the pair at least had their clothes on – that was definitely a bonus. He didn’t know why they had to stay after school to hide and make out, though, surely there were better places for such activities. Shiro cleared his throat and the two broke apart, the girl giving an embarrassed little laugh, tucking her hair behind her ear and turning bright red. 

“You guys can’t be here,” he said and the girl mumbled something intelligible, before rushing past him and away. 

The boy he recognised as Lance McClain. The two had never really spoken, but knew of each other. Everyone knew Shiro (unfortunately), and then there was Lance - _everyone_ knew Lance and for entirely different reasons. While Shiro was the reserved captain of the football team, wasn’t much for talking, but came alive on the field, Lance was someone that came alive around others. He was charming and charismatic, and had the entirety of the school’s female population charmed – including the teachers, and not even in a bad way. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy; funny and handsome, but he wasn’t someone that Shiro thought he’d click with… their personalities were just too different. 

Lance thrived on attention and talking to people and making them laugh, whereas Shiro only dealt with interactions when he had to with people that he wasn’t used to talking to, and most of the time he hated being the centre of attention – he only put up with it for the love of the sport. Then of course, there was the fact that Lance was a partier – went to all of the parties, hell, threw some of the best ones, and had a different girl on his arm each week and had probably done more ‘things’ than Shiro was even aware _existed_ , and doing it all while still being the most charming and liked guy around the school. 

And then there was Shiro – he’d kissed a few girls, but never really wanted to. He was probably one of the only virgins in their year, and he’d come very reluctantly to the conclusion about a year or so ago now that he was gay, and he was so deep in the closet that he wasn’t sure that he’d ever be able to find his way out. 

So yeah, it was safe to say that Shiro wasn’t exactly surprised to find Lance down here with lipstick smeared over his face, shirt hanging open and a slight bulge in his pants. Shiro definitely made a point of averting his eyes, knowing that there was a blush on his cheeks. 

“Sorry, dude,” Lance said with a smile, rubbing the back of his neck. “I didn’t know anyone would be coming up here.”

“You still can’t be up here,” Shiro reminded him and Lance laughed. 

“You gonna tell on me?” he asked with a teasing smile, tilting his head a little and Shiro huffed out a breath. 

“No,” he said, and Lance smirked, folding his arms across his chest.

“I guess I’ll see you around then, _Shiro_ ,” Lance said, bumping their shoulders together as he walked past him instead of moving out of the way, looking back at him with another smirk when Shiro turned to follow him with his eyes. 

Shiro bristled, looking away and waiting until Lance was gone before getting up to get the bag. He took it back down to the locker room and went out to his car, a small frown on his face as he went. That was… probably his first interaction with Lance, actually. Despite having gone to the same school for forever, they’d had no reason to interact before this. Shiro had always liked Lance enough, though, and he assumed that Lance liked him back – he wasn’t dislikeable was he? Had he had Lance pinned wrong the whole time? He didn’t know what it was… it wasn’t _mean_ , or spiteful – even the smirks were just… playful; teasing. But why? They weren’t friends, why was Lance teasing him? Because he knew somehow that Shiro had never had a girlfriend while Lance had made his way through the entire cheer team at least twice and then some?

He couldn’t shake it from his mind all the way home, but eventually had to give up on thinking about it; it was doing no good having these thoughts swirling around in his head, and he had a paper to write. He kicked his shoes off when he got in, going up to his room and pouting at his laptop for a good few minutes before finally opening it and making a start. 

***

Shiro didn’t think about the incident again for a few weeks. He was busy enough with both being swamped with work and after school football practices, getting ready for their next game, and it was a relatively big school, so he didn’t see Lance all that much. They shared a few classes together, of course, but that was about it, and they sat nowhere near each other. 

They’d gotten mostly to the end of the lesson now, and their teacher had announced that they were going to be doing joint projects together leading up to the end of the semester, and they would then give a power point presentation. That seemed simple enough and Shiro was ready to grab Matt as his partner; someone he was both close to, and knew the ins and outs of science better than anyone else in the class. Together they’d make a great project and would have fun doing it, too. 

Then of course, the teacher started listing off the names of the pairs. Oh. They didn’t get to pick. Shiro’s anxiety spiked as he waited for her to call his name, and eventually after an excruciatingly long minute and a half, she did – along with Lance McClain’s. Great. That was just perfect. He glanced up to where Lance was flashing him a smile across the room, and he gave him a tentative one back. 

He didn’t dislike Lance, despite how their first encounter had confused him. It was just that… well, doing a presentation in front of the class was already hard enough (Shiro had only just about got pep talks with the team down) and so having someone that he was comfortable with beside him was what he needed. No, he was stuck with _Lance_ , the most charming and carefree guy in the school. When it came to their presentation, no matter how much work Shiro had put in, Lance was going to breeze through it, being effortlessly funny as he explained things, while Shiro was going to be the stuttering idiot beside him. Even if he got a grip on himself, he was still going to pale in comparison. Everyone paled in comparison to Lance. 

“Hey,” a voice said, jolting Shiro out of his thoughts as they spiralled, and he looked up to find himself and lance alone in the now empty classroom. “You okay there?”

“I’m fine,” Shiro said quickly, standing up and packing away his things.

Lance eyed him for a moment and then carried on. “If there’s anything specific for the project you wanna do, just let me know. I have a couple of ideas, but I can text them to you later, okay?”

“Okay,” Shiro nodded, and Lance handed his phone to him. 

Shiro put his number in, and then dutifully handed his own over so that Lance could do the same. 

“Okay, I gotta run, but I’ll talk to you later, okay?” he said, throwing Shiro a grin as he got to the door, and was then gone a moment later. 

Lance already knew what he wanted to do for the project? Shiro had barely registered yet what they were even supposed to be doing it about.

He didn’t hear from Lance that night, and only caught a glimpse of him at school the next day, and again, most of the evening went by before he finally did. He told himself he was probably just eager to get started on the project, but realistically, who was he fooling? He didn’t know _why_ he had such a hang up on Lance – he didn’t even know this guy. 

They texted back and forth for a little while the next evening, Lance telling Shiro his ideas, and he hadn’t been able to come up with anything better, so they decided to go with it. They arranged for Lance to come over after school on Friday so that they could work on it, too. Shiro didn’t often have people over, he was normally more comfortable with going to other people’s houses, or occasionally having a close friend over like Matt or Keith. That must have been what the weird feeling in his stomach was – he didn’t like people in his space, and much less people he didn’t know. There wasn’t much he could do, though; Lance hadn’t offered for Shiro to come to his, and as much as it was exactly what Lance had just done – it was rude to invite yourself to someone’s house, and Shiro wasn’t about to do that. 

***

After texting Lance his address, the rest of the week dragged, and Shiro was eager for the weekend and a nice little break from everything. But first, he had to get through Friday evening with Lance over at his house. Shiro didn’t really know what he was so worried about, in all honesty; it was just an evening together working on a school project, but he didn’t really know Lance very well, and there was just something about him that put him on edge. 

He managed to shake it off though, meeting up with Lance after school as they’d agreed, and walking home together. Lance chattered away enough for the both of them, so Shiro not knowing what to say wasn’t really an issue. It seemed to Lance, it didn’t matter that they didn’t know each other very well, because he had enough things to talk about anyway and that was just fine by Shiro. He barely stopped until they got back home, and Shiro couldn’t remember half of what he said, but he wasn’t unpleasant to listen to; he had a nice voice and he was funny. Shiro could understand why everyone liked him so much. 

“Would you like a drink?” Shiro asked politely when they got inside and Lance nodded. 

“Yes please, I’ll have whatever you’re having,” Lance smiled.

Shiro nodded, going into the kitchen and pouring them both an ice cold glass of water, bringing it back out to him. “So um, we can work wherever. It’s kinda hot in my room right now, so we can work down here until my parents get home if you want.”

“Okay, sounds good,” Lance nodded, following Shiro to sit down on the couch and they dumped their bags down on the coffee table. 

They got out their laptops and text books, Shiro listening to some more of Lance’s ideas and managing to interject a few of his own, which Lance seemed eager to incorporate (though maybe more that Shiro was actually contributing, which he _had_ been planning on doing) and the two worked for a good few hours until Shiro heard the front door close. 

He looked up as his mom came in, taking off her shoes and smiling at them. “Hi honey,” she smiled. 

“Hi mom,” he said back. “Uh, this is Lance, we’re doing a project together.”

“Oh, of course,” she said in understanding, nodding. “Is Lance staying for dinner?”

Shiro opened his mouth and closed it again, turning to Lance. “Would you like to?”

Lance looked at him for a moment and bit his lip, looking shy almost. “If that’s not too much trouble,” he said, then directing his gaze to Shiro’s mom. “Thank you.”

“Of course, it’s always nice to have guests,” she smiled, and headed out of the room. 

“We can go upstairs if you want,” Shiro said once she was gone. 

“I don’t mind,” Lance smiled. “Wherever you want.”

“Uh… let’s just stay here, then,” Shiro said, figuring that it was probably too hot in his room right now, anyway. 

The two worked through the evening until dinner, Shiro’s father arriving home a little later after that, and they all sat around the table to eat. Lance charmed his parents, of course, engaging in pleasant conversation with them, talking about his own life and what he wanted to study at college, his family, and other things, and both of his parents seemed to thoroughly like him. Shiro liked him too, so it was okay, he supposed that once they spent a little bit more time together then he’d feel more at ease. 

He could already feel his anxieties slipping away though, the more time he spent in Lance’s company. Lance was… easy going and carefree and that was seeming to rub off on him a little. He was hard working, too, and they’d already made considerable headway, which was good. They went back out into the living room after dinner, Lance offering to help with the dishes, which his mother of course, declined and Shiro shook his head with a smile. Did Lance know how to _not_ charm people? 

“Do you wanna stop for tonight? It’s getting kinda dark out,” Shiro said, glancing out the window and Lance hummed. 

“Sure,” he nodded. “You wanna pick up again same time next week, or a different day?”

“Same time next week works for me,” Shiro nodded, helping Lance gather his things. 

“Tell your mom I said thanks again,” Lance smiled at the doorway and Shiro nodded. 

“Yeah, I will. Have a safe trip home.”

“Thanks,” Lance said, looking at him for a moment and then turning to leave, walking to the end of Shiro’s drive and then flashing him a smile and giving him a small wave. 

Shiro stood there for a few moments, watching him as he walked away, and then closed the door and came back inside. Well… that had gone well. They were making good progress on the project, and Lance didn’t hate him (though Shiro was unsure of why he would), and they’d arranged another session. Shiro didn’t know why he’d been so worried in the first place. 

He got his own things up from the living room and headed up to his room, pulling out his phone and finding a missed call from Matt. He frowned and dialled his number, waiting for him to answer. 

“Hey, Mr. Perfect gone home, yet?” he asked as he answered and Shiro frowned. 

“Mr. Perfect…?” 

“You know, golden boy,” Matt snorted. 

“No, I know who you mean,” Shiro said and Matt laughed again. Maybe… not everyone liked him after all. 

“Well, how’d it go?”

“Fine,” Shiro said. 

“Fine? That’s all I get? He steals my partner and all I get is ‘fine’?”

Shiro huffed. “It was! I’m not telling you what we’re doing it on, if that’s what you want. We got some work done, he stayed for dinner, he’s gone home now, that’s all there is to it.”

“Ooh, he stayed for dinner,” Matt cooed. “And was your mom fawning all over him?”

“I mean… kinda.”

Matt scoffed. “Of course she was, everyone always is.”

“Do you… not like him or something?” Shiro asked with a frown. 

“Eh, he’s whatever,” Matt said airily. “He irritates me.”

“He’s nice.”

“Sure,” Matt hummed. “You miss _me_ though, right?”

“Course I do,” Shiro nodded. “How’s your partner?”

“Oh, mine is _great_.”

Shiro pursed his lips. “Really now.”

“Uh huh, you know Allura?” he asked and Shiro made a noise of affirmation. “Well, guess whose romancing her.”

“Uh… someone other than you?”

“Hey! I have a shot!”

“Sure you do,” Shiro nodded. 

“Ugh, I hate you. Just you wait, you’ll tell this story when you’re the best man at our wedding, you’ll see.”

Shiro laughed. “Uh huh, I’m sure I will.”

“Anyway, I gotta go, my mom’s calling,” Matt hummed. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow?”

“Uh huh,” Shiro said, hanging up the phone. 

He wasn’t being _serious_ with the mean things he said about Lance, but he supposed that not _everyone_ could like him. Shiro still couldn’t figure out why he was stuck in his head so much. If he’d ended up with a different partner, would he be having this response? Shiro filtered through some of his classmates with pursed lips and a frown. Probably not, no. That didn’t exactly help him in figuring out what it was all about. 

He sighed, flopping down onto his bed and tossing his phone aside. It was the weekend now, at least, so asides from a little more homework he had, he wouldn’t have to think about anything school related for another two whole days. Yippee. He groaned softly, turning over and kicking his covers off onto the floor. It was too hot for this.

***

The next week went by relatively smoothly. He had practice after school most days, and thankfully had no more encounters with Lance under the bleachers. Lance would smile at him now if they crossed paths, and Shiro smiled politely back, before moving past him. He hadn’t thought much more about their project, but they weren’t set to meet until the end of the week so it was okay. They hadn’t discussed doing any work in between sessions, so Shiro wasn’t too worried; he had other things to be focusing on anyway, with the end of season games coming up.

On Friday after school he met up with Lance and the two walked home, Lance talking animatedly about his week and Shiro listening attentively, giggling when Lance would say something funny and nodding along, interjecting when he could. It was a lot more easy going than their walk home the week before, and Shiro found himself already becoming more relaxed around him. He didn’t usually take to people so well, as much as he would have liked to, and was almost always still left feeling self-conscious and anxious, but he was finding those thoughts far from his mind now, with Lance humming and speaking next to him, moving to make himself at home and sit down on the couch when they got inside as Shiro went to get them some juice.

When he came back out to the living room Lance had already set their things up, text books spread out on the coffee table and their laptops, too. Shiro smiled, shaking his head as he sat down next to Lance and handed him his drink. 

“Ready?” Lance said with a smile, taking it from him and taking a sip. 

“Yep,” Shiro nodded.

“Okay, so I’ve been doing some thinking since last week…” Lance started and Shiro smiled again, biting his lip. 

Going into this he would have been more concerned that he was going to end up doing most of the work, and then Lance was going to get the credit for it, being his larger than life self during the presentation, but now… it seemed that Lance really was the whole package; hardworking, too, and Shiro was more worried about being shown up than taking the credit. Shiro had been too preoccupied to focus on the project during the week, and even going into it Lance had had tons of ideas whereas Shiro hadn’t had so many. Lance didn’t seem to mind, though, as Shiro was definitely pulling his weight during their sessions, and having been on the other end of having a partner that never did anything… Shiro wasn’t about to put someone through that, and especially not Lance. Shiro shook his head, he didn’t know what _especially not Lance_ was supposed to mean, but his point still stood. 

They worked solidly until Shiro’s parents got home, taking a brief break while his mother made conversation with him, and Shiro watched in amusement. It really did just seem to be in his personality to flirt with any girl he came across, it wasn’t just an act to be popular at school. But even so, Lance wasn’t being snarky or smug about it, he just… seemed genuinely nice. Shiro didn’t know why he was so surprised by this, just that from his experience, the popular kids at school were never really very nice, and always hid behind some sort of exterior. So… it _was_ surprising, really, for Lance to be so genuine. 

“You okay?” Lance asked and Shiro blinked, realising that Lance was saying something. 

“What?”

“Are you okay?” Lance asked with an amused smile. “You looked kinda lost in thought, there.”

“Oh, yeah I’m fine,” Shiro said quickly, nodding. “Just… distracted.”

“Mmm,” Lance nodded in understanding. “Big game coming up, how’s that going?”

“It’s going,” Shiro said with a shrug. “We’re getting there, I think we can do it.”

“Well, I’ll be sure to be there,” Lance said, flashing him a grin. 

“Please, we all know the only reason you come is to ogle at the cheer squad,” Shiro retorted with a smirk and Lance laughed airily. 

“I mean, I suppose that is a perk, but then again watching you all getting sweaty and running around is also one,”

Shiro wrinkled his nose. “Oh, I’m sure.”

Lance laughed, like there was a joke Shiro was missing, and then shook his head, looking down. “Anyway, do you wanna get in a little more time before we pack up?”

“Yeah, for sure,” Shiro nodded, picking up the text book again and scanning over the page to the part he needed, reading it aloud as Lance hummed in thought, and then typed something onto their document. 

Lance stayed a little while longer after that, arranging to meet up again at the same time the following week, and parted ways. 

***

It wasn’t until Friday again that Shiro got the memo from one of his team mates that they were having an extra late practice today, which meant that he couldn’t even reschedule his study session with Lance for an earlier day in the week, unless they wanted to dip into their weekend plans. Which, Shiro kinda didn’t, but if it came to that, he supposed that he wouldn’t _really_ mind.

He managed to grab Lance between periods, Lance almost dropping some books in surprise, and looking up at him with wide eyes. 

“Shiro, you scared me,” he said with a soft laugh and Shiro bit his lip in embarrassment, letting go of him. 

“Sorry,” he said with a small flush. “Uh, apparently coach is running practice for an extra hour or so today after school, so um… if you wanna reschedule, or… meet me at home after that, then… whatever you want.”

Lance bit his lip and hummed thoughtfully. “Well… I’ve got a couple other things to be working on anyway, so I could just stick around and get some stuff done until you’re done? But if you’re gonna be tired we can reschedule.”

Shiro shook his head. “No, that’s okay.”

“Okay,” Lance nodded. “Do you guys have a rule about people watching practice?” Lance asked and Shiro tilted his head. “Well, it’s a lovely day, I just thought it might be nice to come and sit in the bleachers and do my work there, but if not then that’s okay-”

“It is,” Shiro said quickly. “Okay, that is. You can.”

“Okay, well, I’ll see you there, then,” Lance said, giving him a smile, and Shiro looked after him as he walked away. 

“Are you guys all besties now?” Matt asked with a pout, coming up beside him and bumping Shiro’s shoulder. 

“What?”

“You were staring,” he said, lips curling into a catlike grin. 

Shiro huffed. “I was just _thinking_.”

“About how much you want a new best friend?”

“Oh, screw you,” Shiro snorted. “No, I was just letting him know that practice is running late tonight, so we can’t go straight home after school.”

“Mmmm, okay, I’ll believe you this time, now come on, we’re gonna be late for chem,” Matt said, dragging Shiro down the corridor. 

The day dragged, but eventually Shiro was changed into his football gear and up on the top field with his team, ready to start practice. He almost didn’t notice as Lance came up, settling himself a few rows back in the bleachers, getting his books out and looking up briefly, meeting Shiro’s eyes and giving him a smile and a small wave. Shiro smiled back, turning as his name was called and he redirected his attention back to his team. He just needed to pretend as though Lance wasn’t there; it wasn’t like Lance was watching him, anyway - Lance was doing his own thing, he wasn’t paying attention to whatever Shiro was doing. Besides… Shiro was the captain, the likelihood of him making a fool of himself was, well… unlikely.

Still, Shiro found himself a little distracted, ever aware that Lance was sitting up there, though _why_ that was such a pressing issue in his mind was beyond him. Still, it _was_ , and while most glances up Lance’s way confirmed to him that Lance was in fact working, there were a few occasions to which he found Lance looking back. His cheeks heated at that, because looking down at the field when sitting on the bleachers was one thing, but specifically looking up at them - at Lance - was another. Shiro was getting too screwed up in his head about Lance for absolutely no reason at all and he needed to put a stop to it. He shook it off, gritting his teeth and trying to focus on their practice. He was the goddamned _captain_. 

He managed to get through the rest of practice alright, chest heaving when they were finally done, and his shirt clinging to him. He looked up to where Lance was immersed in something, and took the opportunity to catch his breath back, wiping his forehead with the hem of his shirt and taking a long drink. 

He looked up at Lance again. His brows were pinched together and bottom lip caught between his teeth as he frowned at his page in concentration. Whatever he was doing he was handwriting it, which from Shiro’s (little) experience, was quite unlike him. He watched him for a few moments, Lance not taking notice of anything around him as everyone slowly filtered out, heading either to the locker rooms or straight home, finally leaving Shiro alone on the field, and Lance still working on whatever it was that he was working on. 

“You having fun?” Shiro called up and Lance jolted, clearly startled, looking up at him and then around in confusion. 

“Oh,” he said, snapping his book closed and quickly shoving things into his bag. “I’m sorry, you haven’t been waiting for me, have you?”

Shiro shook his head, watching as Lance grabbed up his bag and rushed down the steps to meet him. “Nah, don’t worry. Everyone’s only just left. You could’ve kept going for a little if you want, I should probably shower before we head home.”

“Oh,” Lance said, a soft pink dusting his cheeks. 

“We might have to wait a bit though, they’re probably full.”

Lance hummed thoughtfully. “You could just shower at home, right?”

“Well, yes,” Shiro said, nodding. “I mean, if I don’t smell too bad and you don’t mind walking next to me the whole way home, then sure.”

Lance laughed. “You’re fine. I’ll get everything started while you’re showering.”

“Okay,” Shiro nodded, and they headed to the locker room first to grab up Shiro’s bag, and then headed out of the school and towards Shiro’s house. 

“You looked really good out there,” Lance said, looking at him with a smile. 

“Yeah?”

“Yeah!” he nodded. “Of course, dude. I mean, you’re the captain, why wouldn’t you? But yeah, I mean, I can kinda see why you love it.”

Shiro smiled, looking down. “You think?”

“For sure,” Lance said. “You’re in your element there, I could tell. Not that I haven’t been paying attention before, but back then it was more of a that’s the football team and that’s the game, whereas now I kinda _know_ you a little, so it’s like… I dunno, you seemed a lot more… light, somehow.”

“Light?” Shiro asked, furrowing his brows. 

“Like you were just letting go and having fun, you know? I dunno, dude, you worry about shit too much.”

Well, Shiro couldn’t argue with that. “And how are you so good at reading people?” he asked with a teasing smile and Lance grinned back at him. 

“I have four siblings, it comes with the job.”

“Four?” Shiro asked, eyes wide. “I thought one was bad.”

Lance barked a laugh. “Yeah, it’s not always fun… I’m the youngest, too, so, everything I’ve done has already been done before and probably a million times better,” he said with a small pout. “But, it is what it is, and I wouldn’t change it.”

“I know what you mean,” Shiro nodded. “When I was younger. my brother and I had all the same interests, so then when he did something, I wanted to do it too, but I was never old enough to be good at it. So when he started properly pursuing things, I kind of… changed everything up just to get away from it, and make sure that I wasn’t gonna be living in his shadow anymore. That’s when I signed up for a bunch of clubs at school, and football happened to be the one that stuck.”

Lance nodded in understanding. “Well, I bet you’re pretty glad you did that now, huh?”

“I am,” Shiro agreed. “I really am.”

“You’re really good,” Lance said, looking at him softly, and Shiro averted his eyes as his cheeks heated. “I mean it,” Lance said. “You are.”

“Thank you,” Shiro said, not really knowing how to respond to that, but thankfully, he didn’t have to, because they arrived outside his front door and he was going to be able to escape upstairs to the bathroom any minute. 

He let them in and Lance headed for the couch, flopping down and getting their things out, smiling at Shiro as he headed for the stairs. Shiro went upstairs, peeling his clothes off and heading into the bathroom, switching the shower on and letting out a soft breath as the water ran over his body. He didn’t know how to feel about those compliments that Lance had given him, they made his stomach twist just thinking about them. Shiro had never been very good at taking compliments, and it was just as well that they’d gotten home, or Shiro might have said something equally as embarrassing back. 

He just had to finish his shower, and push all thoughts of Lance from his mind, and then go downstairs and focus on the project. With any luck they’d be done after a few more sessions, and then he’d never have to speak to Lance again. He frowned at that. Shiro didn’t _want_ to never speak to Lance again. He liked Lance, and half the time he was convinced that Lance liked him back, and the other half he just assumed he was probably being nice so that their project would go smoothly. 

He’d never been so in his head about someone before, and it wasn’t even something that he could pinpoint - there was nothing about Lance that made him think “yes, _this_ is why he’s screwing me up so bad”, nothing. Lance was just a nice guy, and for some reason, he was all Shiro could ever think about these days. And he was here, right now, downstairs and this was Shiro’s moment alone to just focus on something else, and here he was… thinking about his smile when he’d said what he’d said on the way home. Thinking about when their eyes had met at practice, or the way Lance had looked up at him, startled, as he’d grabbed ahold of him in the corridor, earlier. 

No, Shiro didn’t _want_ Lance out of his life just yet. He’d never particularly had many friends, just sort of… well, just Matt and Keith, and yeah… maybe there were a ton of other people that Lance had a million reasons to like more than him. Just because he was captain of the football team didn’t mean he was anything special. It didn’t mean he was popular, or good with people, it just meant that… well, that people liked him, and invited him to parties, and tended to talk to him about football as if that was all there was to him. 

Lance had no reason to continue talking to him after this was over, and Shiro wouldn’t know the first thing about giving him something to stay for. That’s all they were… school project buddies. School project buddies that made conversation. That’s all this was so _why_ did Shiro care so much? He couldn’t for the life of him figure it out. There must have been _some_ explanation, but no matter how much he thought about it, he just couldn’t think of one. 

He finished up his shower, shaking it off. He dried off and put some clean clothes on, heading downstairs. Lance didn’t look up as he came in, and he walked over, looking over the back of the sofa to see what he was working on. 

“Oh, wow,” he said softly, looking down at what Lance was doing. It was a sketch book; that’s what he’d been so focused on earlier. The double page was filled with drawings of different sea creatures, ones that Shiro could name and ones that he couldn’t. It looked almost finished; everything beautifully watercoloured in, and Lance was just giving some finishing touches with a pen now, it seemed. 

Lance squeaked and snapped the book shut. 

“Sorry,” Shiro said guiltily. “I didn’t mean to look.”

“It’s okay,” Lance said, but didn’t open it again, quickly shoving it into his bag. “Clearly I need to pay more attention to my surroundings.”

Shiro huffed a laugh, sitting down next to him. “That was really beautiful, you know,” he said, biting his lip. 

Lance met his eyes for a moment, and then looked away. “Thanks.”

“I didn’t know you did art.”

“I don’t,” Lance said. “Take it, that is, I don’t take it. I just… do it in my spare time, I don’t really… like people knowing.”

“Why not? That was gorgeous.”

Lance flushed and gave a small shrug. “I don’t know, it’s private, I guess. I didn’t want to take a class because I like painting things that make me happy, and drawing’s what I do when I need to… think, or get out of my head, or relax, and I didn’t want to be told what I should be drawing, or that it’s not good enough. I didn’t want to be graded on it, either.”

“That’s understandable,” Shiro said. 

Lance nodded, not looking up at him. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be snappy about it, it’s just kind of… _my_ private thing. I know I was just sitting here on your couch doing it, though, so I can’t really complain.”

“It’s okay,” Shiro said, shaking his head. “I’m not gonna tell anyone.”

“Thanks,” Lance replied. “Let’s um, let’s make a start.”

Shiro took the hint and agreed, the both of them getting their things out and not mentioning it again as they got to work. 

***

Shiro didn’t see Lance for the first half of the following week, barely catching glimpses of him around school, until Wednesday evening, when going up to practice, he found Lance already sitting in the bleachers again with his sketch book out, and Shiro really wanted to go up there and see what he was drawing, but he knew that even if he did, Lance probably wouldn’t show him. He felt himself flush as Lance looked up, catching him looking and flashing him a smile, raising his hand in greeting. Shiro did the same, looking at him for a few moments longer, before turning to join the rest of his team.

He was less distracted than last time, though he did catch Lance watching them practice a few times, catching his eye, and Lance would smile, and then redirect his attention back to his book. Shiro felt less nervous by Lance watching this time, found himself trying a little harder, running a little faster, only catching it as showing off around half way through. He didn’t know why he had such a need to impress Lance, probably because Lance was so fucking perfect in every way, he wanted to feel like he was worth his time, though Lance already seemed to like him enough as it was. He had no idea why Lance was up on the top field today, wracking his brains to check that they hadn’t scheduled a meeting for today; they hadn’t. 

Still, he stayed through practice, though, looking up as it ended, almost… hopeful. He didn’t pack up, or make to move, however, so Shiro made the decision to go up and talk to him; it would be rude not to, right? He padded up the steps, still sweaty and out of breath, sitting down next to him. 

“Hey,” he said with a smile and Lance smiled back. 

“Hey, that looked like a good practice,” Lance complimented. 

“Mm, and you’d only know that if you were watching instead of doing your work, wouldn’t you?” Shiro teased and a faint blush dusted Lance’s cheeks as he rolled his eyes. 

“Well, it’s comforting to know that you guys are doing well, with the end of season coming up.”

“I didn’t know you were such a dedicated fan,” Shiro said and Lance gave a light hum. 

“Well, not particularly, but pretty much everyone here supports the team, right?”

“Enough to come and check up on us?” Shiro pressed, lip quirked, but Lance only smiled back, rolling his eyes playfully. 

“Maybe I was here to see you.”

Shiro furrowed his brows at that. “Was I supposed to be doing something this week?”

“No,” Lance said, shaking his head. “Don’t worry, I’ve got it covered. We’re still on for Friday?”

Shiro nodded. “Yeah, we’re good.”

Maybe Lance had just been teasing when he said he was there to see him… there was no reason for him to see him, surely, and if it wasn’t about the project, then… there was nothing else for it to be about. He didn’t want to push it, in case he really didn’t have a reason, and then one of them would end up embarrassed. 

“So, can I see what you were working on?” Shiro asked, tilting his head, prepared for Lance to say no. 

Lance bit his lip, looking at him for a few moments, and then opening his book, thrusting it towards him. Shiro took it in surprise, looking at the page he’d opened it to. 

“Lance, these are gorgeous,” he murmured, looking down at the sketches he’d made. “How do you draw them so well?”

Lance gave a small shrug. “References.”

Shiro bit his lip as he smiled, looking up at him, and then back down at the page and the various sea creatures that he had sketched out. “So what is it with the sea? You doing some kind of personal project?” he asked, recalling the previous page he’d seen, which too, had been an underwater theme. 

“Uh…” Lance said, looking down at his hands. “I guess so? I just um, well, I really like the sea, and I really like all the animals and creatures that live in it, so uh… yeah.”

Shiro hummed. “May I?” he asked, looking up at him tentatively and Lance bit his lip, giving a small nod. 

Shiro gently and carefully flipped through the pages, the contents varying from sketches to full watercolour, to ink, to studies with notes and facts scrawled on the pages, all keeping the theme of sea creatures. 

“There are a lot of sharks in here,” Shiro observed, not looking up as he turned the pages. 

“I like sharks,” Lance said softly. “They’re um, my favourite animal.”

“Oh, that’s cool,” Shiro said. “I like sharks, too.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Shiro agreed, nodding. “I still can’t believe you don’t take art. I mean… I get why, of course, I just… you’re _so_ good.”

“Thanks,” Lance mumbled and when he looked up at him, closing the book, Lance’s cheeks were red. 

“Thank you for showing me,” Shiro said, handing it back to him, and Lance nodded. 

“So um… I guess you’ve got things to be doing…?” Lance said, biting his lip. 

“I mean, not really,” Shiro shrugged. 

“Do you uh, wanna walk home together, then?” Lance asked. “My house is only a few streets over from yours.”

“Sure!” Shiro said, nodding and Lance put his sketchbook in his bag, standing up. 

Like the week before, they stopped by the locker room to get Shiro’s things, and then began the walk home. Lance was quieter this time, quieter than he had been any of the times they’d been together thus far, and Shiro put it down to him still being a little embarrassed from showing him his art, but he didn’t mind filling in the blanks, feeling a lot more comfortable around him now. 

Truth be told, Shiro had _always_ felt a lot more comfortable around Lance than he did other people. Despite the initial itch of trying to get him out of his head, and not quite knowing what he was doing there in the first place, Lance was… really nice. And he and Shiro got on very well, and so Shiro had no problem filling the silence as they walked. They eventually got to Shiro’s house and they stopped at the edge of his drive, Lance looking reluctant to go. 

“Do you… wanna come inside?” Shiro asked, not sure why he was asking, but almost sure that Lance had wanted him to ask. 

“Aren’t you busy?” Lance asked, biting his lip. 

Shiro shook his head. “No, not really. I have a paper to write, but I probably won’t be doing that for a bit anyway, so…”

Lance hesitated and then nodded. “Okay,” he said. “If that’s okay.”

“Of course it’s okay,” Shiro smiled, leading him in. “I’m just gonna jump in the shower, but you can um… wait in my room, if you like.”

Lance nodded and Shiro showed him upstairs, leaving him to head into the bathroom. Something seemed… off. Lance was a lot more subdued than normal, and maybe it really was just embarrassment; both from his drawings and wanting to see Shiro outside of the project, but why would wanting to be friends be embarrassing? In case Shiro didn’t want to? Had he given off that impression?

He thought about it while he showered, but he couldn’t make heads or tails of it, eventually drying off and slinging a towel around his waist, heading back into his room. Lance was laying on his stomach on his bed with his sketchbook back out, looking at something on his phone as he scratched lines onto the paper, Shiro suddenly realising that it probably would have been a better idea to have brought some clothes with him to the bathroom, instead of coming back in a towel, but he was already in now, and there wasn’t much he could do about it. 

Lance looked up as Shiro crossed the room, and Shiro met his eyes with an embarrassed smile, grabbing some clothes up out of the drawer and darting back into the bathroom to change. He came back a few minutes later to find Lance in much the same position as before, though he wasn’t drawing anymore, more just… pondering the page. 

“Is everything okay?” Shiro asked, tilting his head and Lance flicked his eyes up to him. 

“I can go,” he said and Shiro shook his head quickly. 

“I don’t want you to go,” he said, sitting down on the bed next to him. “You just seem…” he said, trailing off with a small shrug. 

“I’m okay,” Lance said softly. “I just uh… kinda wanted to stay out a little while longer, I had a dumb fight with my parents last night,” he said with a sigh. 

Shiro frowned. “I’m sorry,” he said. “What was it about?”

Lance shook his head. “Just dumb stuff. Still… don’t let me bother you, you should write your paper, I’ll just draw a bit.”

“Okay,” Shiro said. “Do you want a drink or anything? Snacks?”

“I’m okay,” Lance said, shaking his head. “Thank you, though.” 

Shiro smiled, moving to sit at his desk, getting his laptop up and giving a sigh. It was probably better that he started on this paper now, anyway. The sooner he got it out of the way, the better.

It took quite a while to finally wade through it, and when he finally turned around again, he didn’t find Lance in the same position that he’d left him in, like he’d expected. Instead, his sketchbook was laying open, tossed aside, along with his pencil, and Lance was curled up in a ball, fast asleep. 

Shiro smiled softly, getting up and moving across the room to him, he closed his sketchbook, unable to help having a quick glance as he did so, and put it on his bedside table. He then carefully pulled the covers over Lance, tucking him in. Lance didn’t shift even a little; he must have been tired. Shiro didn’t sit down next to him for fear the dip in the bed may wake him, so instead he went back over to his desk, sitting down and pulling up their project folder, seeing if there was anything he could get done to help out. 

He worked on their project quietly for a little bit, turning to check on him every so often, though he was still sound asleep. He must have needed the rest. Eventually, he stirred, and Shiro weighed up his options of whether Lance would find it creepy to wake up and find Shiro already looking at him. Probably. So he kept his gaze firmly on his laptop as he worked, letting Lance wake up on his own. Lance made a soft sleepy sound and Shiro turned around, catching his eyes as Lance stretched. 

“Hey, have a good nap?” Shiro asked with a smile and Lance flushed, nodding. 

“Uh huh, sorry,” he said, biting his lip. 

“For?”

Lance huffed. “For, you know… inviting myself over and then falling asleep on your bed?”

Shiro laughed. “ _I_ invited you, and it’s okay. I don’t mind, I’ve just been doing stuff,” he said with a shrug. 

Lance looked at him for a few more moments and then averted his eyes, grabbing his phone. “Oh, it’s getting late.”

“You can stay for dinner, if you like, I know my parents would be happy to see you again,” Shiro offered and Lance looked tempted, but eventually shook his head. 

“No… I should probably get home, my mom will be worrying. Thank you, though.”

“Of course,” Shiro said. “You can come over any time, you know,” he added. “I don’t mind.”

“Thanks,” Lance said softly, getting up and putting his sketchbook back in his bag. 

Shiro stood up, walking with him down to the front door and they lingered there for a moment. “Are you sure you don’t wanna talk about it?” he asked tentatively and Lance looked down, shaking his head. 

“It’s okay, it’ll blow over, it always does,” he said, looking back up at him with a smile. “Thank you, though.”

“Of course,” Shiro said, returning the smile. “I’ll see you on Friday?”

Lance nodded. “See you on Friday.”

Shiro watched as he walked away from the house and started towards his own, before closing the door and heading into the kitchen to see if there was anything he could do to help with food. 

***

Lance was waiting by the gates already when Shiro got to them the following Friday, and Lance lit up as he saw him, grinning. 

“What’s this?” Shiro asked, sceptically eyeing the drinks in Lance’s hand. 

“We got out early and I really wanted a milkshake, so ran into town to get one, and then I picked one up for you, too. I didn’t really know what you like, so I just got vanilla,” he explained, handing Shiro his. 

“Oh,” Shiro said, taking it and blinking at it. “Thank you.”

He took a sip and Lance smiled, already starting the walk home and Shiro smiled shyly, following after him. 

They’d both finished by the time they got home, and Shiro shyly thanked him, Lance waving him off as they set up. Shiro showed him what he’d done while Lance had been asleep a few days ago, and Lance leaned over him to look, resting his cheek against Shiro’s shoulder, and Shiro suddenly found breathing incredibly difficult. He pulled back when they were finished, Shiro stuttering his way through explaining things, and set to work, Shiro sure that his cheeks were ablaze and his heart hammering in his chest. 

Well that was a strange reaction. He stole a few glances towards Lance as they worked, a puzzled expression on his face as he tried to figure out why he suddenly felt so hot all over. Lance was immersed in whatever he was doing, lip caught between his teeth and his brows furrowed slightly, making a soft sound of deliberation, before making up his mind about something, as his forehead smoothed out. Shiro had to check himself a few times that he caught himself staring, but eventually managed to get himself focused on the project. The end of the semester was nearing, and their due date was ever approaching. They’d only have a session or so left before it was due in, and while they were all set to be on track, Shiro couldn’t be sitting here wasting their time by staring at Lance.

They took a break part way through for a snack, Lance laughing at some dumb joke he’d made, and Shiro’s breathing sped up again, feeling all fluttery inside. Was he coming down with something? He didn’t usually get such random bursts of… whatever this was. Shiro didn’t have much time left to dwell on it, however, because they soon got back to work, Lance staying a little later than he usually did while they got everything situated on the presentation. By the time Lance was ready to go they had both the presentation and the essay finished, presentation loaded onto a memory stick, and essay all printed out with the both of their names at the top, ready to hand to their teacher. 

“Okay, so next week we’re just gonna practice the presentation, right?” Lance asked in the doorway and Shiro nodded. 

“Uh huh, sounds good.”

“Okay,” Lance said, biting his lip. “Well um, have a good weekend then, I’ll see you on Monday?”

Shiro nodded again. “Yeah, I’ll see you on Monday.”

There was no guarantee, of course, that they’d actually see each other on Monday, but Shiro could remain ever optimistic. He closed the front door with a click and blew out a breath, sighing softly. He frowned, standing there for a few moments before moving to take his things up to his bedroom. If they were nearly done with the project, then that meant that Lance would stop coming over. They were- well, they were definitely friendly now, and Shiro would very much like to consider them friends, but the fact was that summer was coming, and Shiro and Lance had very different friendship groups, which meant that unless they specifically scheduled multiple meet ups together – alone – with no obligations of a project attached to them, then… they weren’t going to be friends come the new school year. 

Shiro was still frowning by the time he flopped down onto his bed, letting out a sigh. He didn’t want to not be friends with Lance anymore; he really liked Lance. Lance was… Lance was really really great, and Shiro was so grateful that they’d been paired together and that they’d formed this friendship. He just wasn’t sure of how easy it was going to be to keep up once summer came. There was no use dwelling on it now, he supposed – they still had another two weeks left of school, and one more study session together, so there was that, at least. Still, going to bed, Shiro couldn’t shake the sad feeling that clung to him. He really didn’t want to lose Lance, but he wasn’t going to pretend that he held the same importance to Lance. Lance had tons of friends, he was surrounded by people, and there was no reason that Shiro should be an important one; Shiro was just his study buddy. That was all. Lance never got distracted or lost his breath or train of thought around Shiro, did he? No, that was all Shiro, because Shiro was an idiot that had gotten too attached. 

***

As it turned out, Shiro didn’t see Lance on Monday, and he absolutely wasn’t disappointed in the slightest. He lit up when he caught Lance for a moment on Wednesday, but they only had time to exchange a few words before the next bell rang, and Shiro grumbled all the way to class. He would probably never know why he was so hung up on Lance, and why he had been since the very beginning, and Matt continued to tease him about it – only now he’d also filled Keith in, so now they were both teasing him about Lance being their replacement. They were being stupid of course - Lance would never replace them. Shiro’s friendship with them wasn’t like his friendship with Lance, anyway, and he didn’t want it to be. 

Friday rolled around quickly and with every step that they took towards Shiro’s house, Shiro was more and more aware that this was the last. That they weren’t going to be friends after this. That they’d do their presentation on Wednesday next week and then that would be that – forever. He didn’t know why it mattered so much, but it did. Somehow, it very much did. 

They spent a little while going through the presentation, dishing out lines and slides to one another, and running it over and over and over until Shiro sat down with a sigh, curling his feet up on the couch and Lance tilted his head, sitting down next to him. 

“What’s up?” he asked and Shiro looked down. 

“I’m never gonna be able to do this.”

“What? Of course you are,” Lance said.

“No, I’m not,” Shiro shook his head. “I’m no good at speaking in front of people.”

“But… you’re the captain of the football team?” Lance said in confusion. 

“I _know_ ,” Shiro huffed. “And that’s hard _enough_. I’ve only just figured out how to give them pep talks, but that’s okay because I _know_ them all now, so I don’t mind.”

Lance nodded, taking that on board and biting his lip. “So what are you worried about?”

Shiro gave a small helpless shrug and Lance gave him a look. “That you’re Mr. Perfect, and you’re amazing at everything, and you’re great at talking to strangers and making people laugh and I’m gonna look like an idiot standing next to you.”

Lance frowned softly. “Shiro… that’s not true,” he said and Shiro scoffed. “It’s _not_. You’re gonna be great, and it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks, okay? The only thing that matters is that our teacher can see that we’ve worked hard. And we _have_ , and it’s obvious that we have through all of our work. And if something does happen? Which it won’t – you’re not gonna see any of these kids again for another three months. And also, dude, you’re captain of the football team, which gives you like infinite coolness points, anyway.”

Shiro sighed, his chest sinking. Yeah. He wasn’t going to see any of these kids again for another three months, anyway. 

“Come on,” Lance said, laying his hand over Shiro’s and giving it a soft squeeze. “Let’s keep practising, okay? You’ll feel less nervous if you’ve gone through it enough.”

Shiro nodded and Lance gave him an encouraging smile as they started running through it again, Lance continuing to throw them his way as they did so, Shiro feeling his cheeks heat and his chest get a little lighter. Lance was right (maybe). He could do this (possibly).

The time flew by after that, and despite feeling a lot more confident than he had to begin with, there was still a significant difference between standing in his living room alone with Lance, and standing in front of a classroom full of people. 

“Do you wanna meet up again Tuesday night for another run through?” Lance asked by the door and Shiro gave a quick relieved nod. 

“I have practice-”

“I can wait,” Lance cut him off with a smile and Shiro nodded gratefully. 

“Okay, thank you.” 

“It’s okay,” Lance said, shaking his head. “I don’t want you to be nervous.” Easier said than done. 

He bid Lance farewell after that, watching him walk away before closing the door and heading up to his room. He felt a little more comfortable with Tuesday, though the fear of the presentation was ever present in the back of his mind. He just didn’t know how Lance did it, and suspected that he never would. 

***

Tuesday came quicker than Shiro would have liked, and before he knew it he was waving to Lance up in the bleachers, and then they were walking home together. The second run through provided nothing else that the first hadn’t, other than a refresh of his memory, but he still felt sick when he thought about standing up there tomorrow. 

Lance was gone all too quickly and Shiro was too caught up worrying about tomorrow that he didn’t realise that Lance wouldn’t be coming back until it was too late and he was already gone. He glanced over to the couch that they’d spent so many evenings curled up on doing their work and frowned, biting his lip. Did everyone feel like this when they and their partners parted ways? He didn’t expect that they did, but that didn’t provide him with any insight other than that he was a loser. 

He didn’t sleep very well that night, too caught up in his thoughts about everything, and felt thoroughly unrested by the time that morning came around. They didn’t have their presentation until second period, and so Shiro spent the entirety of first feeling thoroughly sick, only calmed when he got a text from Lance through. Nothing fancy, just two words:

_Calm down_

He took in a deep breath, trying to do as Lance had said, a small smile finding its way onto his face that Lance was thinking of him, despite the fact that they were in entirely different classes. He just had to get through it, and then it would be over. He just had to get through it. And then it would be over. 

They were practically last on the list to present, all the pairs sitting together and Shiro sat through the agonisingly long hour as everyone else gave theirs, and did absolutely fine. Lance’s hand found Shiro’s under the table about twenty minutes in and didn’t let go until it was their turn, stroking soothing circles onto his skin with his thumb and giving a few soft squeezes. It did wonders to calm him down actually, because Shiro spent a good ten minutes with his mind screaming at him “Lance is holding my hand” to be focused with anything else. 

Shiro jolted when the teacher called their names and Lance squeezed his hand, Shiro turning to look at him. 

“It’s just you and me,” he said gently. “It’s just you and me in your living room.”

“Just you and me,” Shiro nodded, echoing the words quietly as they went up to the front, Lance placing a copy of their essay down on the teachers desk and then putting their memory stick into the computer, getting the presentation up. 

Shiro blew out a long breath, glancing at Lance, who gave him an encouraging smile. He tried to remember how Lance’s hand had felt around his and he took in a deep breath. It was just them, he could do this. It was going to be okay. Why was he so nervous anyway? Did he really care what these people thought of him? The answer was a solid _yes_ , but he had to find a way to get through it. Lance’s hand in his was proving to be a very comforting thought and so with a shaky start, they began to go through their slides, Shiro catching eyes with Matt a few times and getting a smile back from him too, easing his nerves. 

Eventually, after what seemed like an agonisingly long eternity of time, they finished, and they went to sit back down, Shiro shaking a little with adrenaline, and Lance taking his hand again once it was firmly concealed from sight under the table.

“You did it,” Lance said with a soft smile, lacing their fingers together and Shiro smiled widely back, nodding. 

“I did,” he agreed. “I really did. And nothing went wrong.”

“You were amazing,” Lance said and Shiro felt his cheeks heat. “Now you’ve just got to win Friday’s game, and you’re good to go.”

Shiro paled. “Right.” He’d been so focused on getting this presentation out the way that he’d almost forgotten about the biggest game of the year was only the day after tomorrow, now. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll be there cheering you on,” Lance smiled and Shiro flushed. 

“Thanks,” he said softly. 

Lance squeezed his hand again, and they waited for the last pair to finish their presentation before they were dismissed, walking together for a little way until Lance saw his group of friends, looking torn for a moment, and looking between them and Shiro, before reluctantly saying goodbye to Shiro, and Shiro looked after him as he went, one of his friends sliding their arm around his waist as they walked off, and Shiro frowned. 

“Oh, stop pouting,” Matt said, coming up behind him, and Shiro quickly rearranged his face into what he hoped was a neutral expression. 

“I’m not pouting.”

Matt gave him a look. “Okay, fine. But get over it, okay? If you wanted to be part of that crowd then you could be, Mr. Football star, but you’re not, you’re with me and Keith, right?”

Shiro nodded. 

“Right,” Matt agreed. “So come and hang out with us – your real friends that you forget exist the second Mr. Popular walks into the room, okay?”

Shiro frowned, and nodded. “I don’t forget you exist.”

“You forget _everyone_ exists.”

Shiro spluttered indignantly, but let Matt drag him over to where Keith was waiting for them, anyway, changing the subject to something else. Neither of them understood – Shiro didn’t understand either, for that matter. But it didn’t matter now, because their project was done, which meant he and Lance were done. There were two more days left of school, and the game after that on Friday evening, and then it was summer, and Shiro wouldn’t see Lance again until the new year, and Lance certainly wouldn’t have been spending his time thinking about him. Why would he?

The team all had Thursday off for their final practices for the game, and so thankfully, Shiro’s mind was very far away from any of that mess for the following day. If he was picturing Lance up in the bleachers working on his art on a few occasions, then that was no ones business but his own. He fell into bed Thursday night thoroughly exhausted, and woke up on Friday pumped full of adrenaline. 

Shiro was too excited to be nervous, a stark contrast to how he’d felt about the presentation. He was good at this, he knew. He was the _captain_ , and he had faith in his team. They were gonna win this thing, Shiro was sure of it. Lance got there early, with the first few people filtering in to take their seats, and he waved to Shiro with a wide grin on his face, and Shiro grinned back, waving up at him. This was going to be a great game, Shiro could tell. 

***

Shiro had never really been one for alcohol, but as a teenage boy who was also captain of the team that the party was _for_ , despite the fact that none of them should really have had any alcohol in the first place, Shiro was coerced into drinking, and he didn’t much mind, head still feeling light from their win, and ended up drinking a little more anyway. 

Besides, this doubled as their end of year party. They’d won the game and got through the year, and here they were, with music and friends and drinks, and Shiro felt lighter and more happy than he had in a while. He spent the majority of the evening surrounded by his teammates and people congratulating them, some of the guys playing beer pong or doing shots, though Shiro bowed out of those. 

He shouldn’t have been thinking of Lance at a time like this. Lance wasn’t involved in any of this, and well, his involvement with Lance was over now, anyway, and he really just wanted to be able to enjoy the party without his mind wandering. But it was, of course, and so Shiro found himself searching the room for him every few minutes, wondering if he was around, or if he’d come at all. Of course, if he had come, then Lance had plenty of his own friends to hang out with, or no doubt some girl to be making out with in a corner somewhere, or to have escaped upstairs with, there was no reason at all that he should want to talk to Shiro, despite the fact that Shiro could still almost feel the way Lance’s hand had felt in his own a few days before. He was going crazy, surely. 

“Hey there, Captain,” came a familiar voice only a matter of moments later and Shiro started, turning around, a smile spreading onto his face at the sight of him. 

“Lance,” he smiled and Lance grinned back at him. 

“Congrats,” he said. “That was a good game.”

“Thanks,” Shiro said, feeling his cheeks heat. 

“I knew you were going to be good, though, I’ve been sitting in on all your practices.”

“That’s true,” Shiro laughed. “Still, the other team were good, so it could’ve gone either way.”

“Mm, I knew you were going to win,” Lance hummed. “Anyway, I gotta get back now, Lulu’s waiting for me, but I thought I’d better come and offer you my congratulations.”

Shiro bit his lip and nodded, glancing to where Allura was waiting in the kitchen doorway, eyeing them. “Right, yeah, okay,” Shiro nodded. “Thanks.”

“I’ll see you around?”

“Yeah,” Shiro nodded, his heart sinking a little. 

Lance flashed him another smile and then darted off into the kitchen, and Shiro was left looking at the empty doorway for longer than he probably should have been. Right, of course. There was no more school now, so that had… been their last interaction? Maybe? Until school started again, at least, and by then they would have lost this… sort of friendship thing they had going on. 

Shiro didn’t have too long to dwell on it, though, getting dragged right back into the midst of things with his teammates and he sufficiently managed to push Lance from his mind for the rest of the night. He didn’t need to be thinking about Lance, anyway. Lance had his friends and Shiro had his. Shiro had some great friends, and some great teammates, and tonight was a really great night. 

***

The first few days into summer went smoothly. It was getting hotter and hotter as the days passed and while Shiro was missing his friends, and practice, he was infinitely glad that he could laze around at home with the air con on, rather than having to be rushing around on the field. He’d had Matt and Keith over to play video games and celebrate not having any homework for a few months, but since then he’d been pretty content with finally taking a little time off. He’d been working himself like crazy up until the end of the semester, trying to keep his grades up and keep the team in shape, and it was tough, but he’d managed it. Except now he felt like he really just wanted a very long nap. 

Around a week and a half in, though, he was at rather a loose end. He didn’t particularly fancy going out anywhere, because it was hot, and the thought of staying in the cool was a lot more appealing, but there also wasn’t much to do at home, and he’d already finished one of his video games. Still, at least he wasn’t sitting upstairs only a quarter of the way through a paper, he supposed. Yeah, having nothing to do, was still better than writing essays. His parents were working late, so he had the house to himself until the evening, most days, though with the days getting longer, they were usually home before it got properly dark. 

Currently, it was about midnight. Shiro was still up, his lamp on, and immersed in a book. He didn’t look up at the first tap, but did at the second. It was a noise against his window. Looking up, there was nothing there, but he watched as a small stone hit against his glass, making another tapping sound. Was someone… throwing rocks at his window? 

Next, he heard the sound of the knocker on their door, and he put two and two together, still unsure of who would need to be throwing stones at his window instead of just… texting him. He rushed downstairs, hoping that his parents hadn’t heard, going to the front door and opening it up. 

It was Lance. Why… was it Lance? It was Lance like Shiro hadn’t seen him before; small and vulnerable, sniffling, face all red and blotchy, and eyes shining, with visible tear tracks down his cheeks. 

Shiro opened his mouth and closed it again, feeling that a simple “are you okay?” wouldn’t quite be good enough, as clearly, Lance wasn’t okay. He ushered him inside, closing the front door behind him. 

“I’m sorry,” Lance said thickly, looking down. “Your house is the closest and I just ended up here and I-”

“Lance,” Shiro said softly, laying a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay.”

Lance looked like he wanted to say something else, but bit his lip, holding it back. Shiro led him up to his room, closing the door behind them and sitting down on his bed. Lance sat down next to him, running a hand over his face and blowing out a breath. 

“Are you alright?” Shiro asked gently and Lance’s eyes welled with tears. 

“I- yes,” he nodded, sniffing. “No, I don’t know.”

“What’s going on?” Shiro asked, instinctively wrapping an arm around him and Lance melted against him, leaning into him. 

“It’s just… usual stuff,” Lance mumbled with a small shrug. “My dad.”

Shiro frowned, holding Lance a little tighter. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

Lance gave another small shrug. “He just… I’m always gonna be a disappointment to him. I’m never gonna be what he wants. You’d think… he has two other sons, why do I need to be perfect, too? They’re gone now, with their degrees and their jobs and their girlfriends, so why can’t _I_ just... _be_?” Lance asked with a heavy sigh. “He’s been going on about you for a while now.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. Said there’s no _way_ I keep coming over here to work on our “school project”,” he huffed. “I even showed him the damn thing, but that wasn’t good enough,” he said, and Shiro wasn’t quite sure that he knew what Lance meant, but he kept quiet. “No, of course, I can’t just work on a school project, I’m out whoring myself out to everyone, and you’re my latest catch.”

Shiro’s eyes widened as he finally understood the meaning between Lance’s words, and Lance scoffed at his father. Oh. But… if Lance’s father was being homophobic towards him, then did that mean that Lance was gay? No, Lance always seemed to have a different girl on his arm, could that have just been for show? Maybe he was bi?

“I guess, he wasn’t entirely wrong,” Lance mumbled, meeting Shiro’s eyes. 

“What do you mean?” Shiro asked softly. 

“I was here for the project, but… I wasn’t always _just_ here for the project,” he murmured, wetting his lips and Shiro tracked the movement. 

What did that mean? What the hell was that even supposed to _mean_? He watched as Lance flicked his own eyes down to Shiro’s lips, and then back to lock their gazes again. Shiro furrowed his brows in confusion, not knowing what to say in response, or what Lance was even _talking_ about at this point, giving a sharp intake of breath as Lance leaned in, eyes widening momentarily before falling closed as Lance’s lips covered his own. 

Oh. _Oh fuck_. That’s what it had been the whole time, that’s why Shiro was constantly thinking about Lance, memorising the way he looked, the way he felt, and sounded, and why he was obsessing over wanting to still be his friend after school ended. Shiro didn’t want to be his friend at all, he had a fucking crush on him. How could that not have occurred to him? How could the fact that Shiro had crush on Lance have never fucking occured to him even once, when he was so damn head over heels for him? It’s not like he didn’t know he was gay, he _knew_ he was gay, and Lance was fucking _gorgeous_ , of course he had a crush on him. 

Shiro didn’t move, and neither did Lance for a moment. It wasn’t a kiss kiss as such, because they weren’t really kissing. Lance’s lips were just against his own and neither of them were pulling back, and maybe only a few seconds had passed, but it felt like forever and no time, all at once. 

Eventually, Lance pulled back and met his eyes, a soft smile forming on his lips. “Sorry,” he said, though he didn’t sound very sorry. 

“I-” Shiro started, but he didn’t know what to say. He felt sick, but in a good way- like he couldn’t quite believe that that had happened to him. “Can you um, try that again?” he asked, voice barely audible as he could barely even believe himself for asking. 

Lance let out a soft breath that was something akin to a laugh, leaning back in and gently sliding a hand around to cup the back of Shiro’s head, covering his lips with his own once more. Shiro still wasn’t entirely sure what to do, as he’d been kissed less than a handful of times in his life, and they were never kisses that he’d been particularly invested in, or had paid much attention to, but he really wanted to pay attention to this now. 

Lance gently moved their lips together, and Shiro did his best to reciprocate the movement, not knowing what to do with his hands, and brain having all but stopped functioning all together to do anything more than move his lips back against Lance’s, completely unable to move his hands even if he _wanted_ to, he couldn’t remember how. He felt Lance smile against his lips, and he decided then and there that it was something he wanted to keep feeling for now and for always. Lance was amazing. Kissing Lance was amazing, and he never wanted to stop.

Eventually though, Lance pulled back, resting their foreheads together, and Shiro tried to remember how to breathe again, taking in quick shallow breaths as he caught his breath back, not even having noticed that he’d stopped breathing about half way through and completely forgotten how to start doing it again. They stayed like that for a good few moments, before Lance pulled back further, and Shiro let out an embarrassing weak little noise of protest, though it gave Lance such a pretty smile and blush, that it was almost worth it. 

“I’ve never, um, with a...” Shiro breathed and Lance smiled wider, shaking his head. 

“It’s okay,” he breathed back. 

Shiro smiled, giving a soft incredulous laugh. Had that really just happened? Lance laughed back, looking down. He looked happy- he looked _beautiful_. 

“If you need a place to crash, you can stay here,” Shiro offered and Lance looked up, meeting his eyes. 

“Are you sure?” he asked, biting his lip. 

Shiro nodded. “I don’t mind, I mean… I’d kind of like it.”

Lance blushed, looking away shyly, and then back at him, a small flirtatious smile finding its way into his face. “Only kind of?”

“Maybe more than kind of,” Shiro admitted. 

Lance laughed and leant forward, pecking his lips. “Well, thank you, then. I really don’t want to have to go back home tonight.”

“You don’t have to,” Shiro assured him, standing up and going to his dresser, getting out some pyjamas for Lance and handing them to him. “Um, I’ll go and um, change in the bathroom,” he said, clutching his own pyjamas and Lance laughed, nodding. 

Shiro hurried into his bathroom, blowing out a long breath. Wow. That was… wow. He grinned stupidly, stripping out of his clothes and pulling on his pyjamas. He stood there for a minute longer, before taking in a long breath and going back out into his bedroom, finding Lance curled up on his bed with his knees to his chest, looking at him with a soft smile. He looked soft in a way that Shiro hadn’t seen him before, and maybe it was the soft glow of his lamp that highlighted little blonder parts in his hair, or maybe it was the way he was looking at him, but he was beautiful. 

“You’re beautiful,” he said without thinking and Lance opened his mouth and then closed it again, cheeks immediately flushing. “I mean, um-” Shiro stammered, stumbling over his words as his eyes widened. “Well, no, I _do_ mean it,” he said, biting his lip and moving to sit next to him on the bed. 

“You do?” Lance asked with a soft tentative smile.

Shiro gave a small nod, averting his eyes. “Yeah.”

“I think you’re pretty beautiful, too, you know,” Lance said and Shiro wrinkled his nose. “I do,” he insisted. “Look at you, you’re gorgeous.”

“I’m sure you’re the only one that thinks so,” Shiro said, shaking his head and glanced up to find Lance frowning at him. 

“With all the girls you have fawning over you, I highly doubt that.”

“All the what?”

Lance looked at him, tilting his head. “What, you didn’t know? I mean, I thought… I don’t know what I thought - that you were a prude, maybe, and that’s why you never had a girlfriend. Hoped you were gay, perhaps, but I didn’t think you just didn’t… _know_.”

“I- I’m-” Shiro said, brows furrowing and biting down hard on his lip as he looked down. 

“What?” Lance asked carefully. 

“I haven’t um- said that, before,” he admitted softly. 

“What, that you’re gay?” Lance asked and Shiro winced. “Oh, honey,” he said softly. “I mean, are you?”

Shiro took in a breath and shrugged, and then gave a small nod. “Yeah.”

Lance nodded, and looked thoughtful, clearly deciding on what to say. “You wanna kiss me again?” he eventually went with and Shiro nodded embarrassingly quickly. 

Lance breathed a soft laugh, sliding a hand around to cup the back of Shiro’s head, and Shiro thought that he might quite like Lance to hold him like that forever, but his thoughts were quickly cut off as Lance’s lips recovered his own and his brain promptly short circuited. Shiro didn’t really understand, because he’d been kissed before. He’d kissed other people before, but it had never done this to him. It had never made him feel breathless and dizzy and sick and like he couldn’t get enough, all at once. As if he could just stay like this forever, just keep kissing Lance forever, until he ran out of air and died, because breathing was clearly not an option. 

Lance’s lips were incredibly soft and his fingertips were gently stroking at the hairs at the nape of his neck, and then Shiro could feel his other hand in his own, guiding it to cup his face, and Shiro quickly did so, cradling his cheek ever so gently and stroking his thumb along it, Lance humming a soft little contented noise against his lips as he moved them together. Eventually, an eternity and only a moment later, he pulled back, their warm breath mingling together, and nose tips nudging together, smiles matching. 

“I’m sorry if I’m not very good,” Shiro whispered and Lance smiled, giving him another quick kiss. 

“It’s really cute,” he said and Shiro felt himself flush. “You’re just really cute.”

“I’m- what?”

“Cute,” Lance said, kissing him again. “You’re cute and you’re gorgeous and you’re beautiful,” he murmured, resting their foreheads together. 

“You’re breathtaking,” Shiro countered with a lightheaded giggle, kissing him again. 

They kissed like that- short and quick, again and again and again and again until they were giggling against each other’s lips, dizzy and lightheaded and exhausted. Shiro would have happily stayed like that all night if it meant he got to keep kissing Lance, but Lance pulled back, and shifted to lay down, looking up at Shiro with a lazy affectionate smile. Shiro reluctantly did the same, laying down, too, and pulling the covers up over them. 

“How do you usually lie?” Lance asked as Shiro switched the lamp off. 

Shiro shifted, turning onto his side away from Lance. “Like this,” he said. 

He felt Lance moving behind him, until he felt his warm body pressed up against him, knees tucked behind his own and head between his shoulder blades, arm coming to rest over his waist. “Is this okay?” he asked. 

“It’s perfect,” he murmured, a dumb smile on his face, and he was grateful that Lance couldn’t see him, right now. 

Lance mumbled something quietly against him that Shiro couldn’t quite make out, but he figured that Lance probably hadn’t meant for him to hear it, so he didn’t press, closing his eyes instead, letting himself bask in how right Lance’s body felt curled around his own, and how he’d been missing this for so long without even realising it. This was perfect, Lance was perfect. Shiro wanted things to be just like this for the rest of forever.

**Author's Note:**

> so umm this is actually over a year old i started writing it the day lover (taylor swift) came out as u can probably tell if u know the album the title is from miss americana and its lovingly known as my cruel summer au for a part 2 of the fic that i never wrote which was angst w happy ending but i thought this was sweet on its own so here u go id rlly rlly love to know what u think
> 
> (if u wanna sub maybe one day ill find the motivation to write part 2 but its unlikely)


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